Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, from the Coalition Against Corruption of the Anti-Tobacco Clause (Kakar) and a delegate to the APACT, said the government should urgently address this matter. He added that it was the first time in the history of the APACT that the conference’s final declaration included a call for a nation to sign the FCTC.

The declaration was backed by 700 delegates from 41 countries who attended the conference from October 6-9, 2010.

“This is very embarrassing for Indonesia not to have signed the convention, while other Asian countries have already ratified it,” Hakim said. “By failing to sign it, we’re protecting the tobacco industry rather than the health of our own people.”He warned that if Indonesia did not sign the FCTC soon, it would be “excluded from international society, and we don’t want to be an isolated country.”

Harley Stanton, the APACT president, said, “We are deeply concerned that in failing to accede to the FCTC, Indonesia is creating a public health disaster.“Indonesia’s tobacco-related death toll is more than 200,000 a year. More than 60 percent of Indonesian men smoke.” He said more and more Indonesian children were also smoking, with a 400 percent increase in smoking among 5 to 9 year olds.